PM confident FDI decision will get RS approval

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on Thursday, voiced confidence that the FDI decision will get the approval in Rajya Sabha even as BSP chief Mayawati refused to specify the way her party would vote in the Upper House where a discussion on the issue began.

"I am confident about Rajya Sabha," Singh told reporters in Parliament House when asked whether he was confident of winning the vote in Rajya Sabha.

Mayawati, whose party BSP sided with the government in Lok Sabha during voting on FDI in retail, said, "You will see tomorrow" the party stand on the issue in the Upper House. She said this when reporters asked what would be the party's position in Rajya Sabha where the government is facing a tough test.

Congress and its allies had defeated the Opposition-backed motion over FDI in multi-brand retail in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. SP and BSP had staged a walkout ahead of the voting.

The Opposition, however, has dismissed the government's victory in Lok Sabha alleging that it misused enforcement agencies like CBI to intimidate SP and BSP and win votes in the Lower House.

"It is a fight between CBI and FDI," BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi told reporters, taking a dig at SP and BSP over their walkout.

Rejecting the allegation, home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said that the Opposition was "casting aspersions" on the democratic institutions by levelling "baseless" charges. Talking to reporters, he also expressed confidence that the government will win the FDI test in Rajya Sabha.